Letters to the Editor
rider237
Published Letters: 1
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Do conservatives really see war as the ultimate solution?
[Read the article: Real inconvenient truths]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dear Ms Paglia,
as one of those rabid, gun toting, right wing, former military, and female to boot, conservatives...i'll take a crack at this one if you don't mind.
the simple answer is "no". the next logical question would be "why do we support the war in Iraq?" that's a harder question to answer.
i was in the military for the 1st gulf war. we came to an agreement with Iraq for a cease fire. yes, other countries were involved as was the UN, but we owned the deal. the cease fire was violated before the ink was dry. many of us wondered why our time and lives had been wasted if there were to be no consequences for Iraqs misbehavior. the situation wore on us more as the 90's went on. the clinton admin made the case for Iraq as an enemy, and the case for WMD. still, nothing was done. in our hearts, we knew that someday we'd have to go back and finish what had been left undone.
after 9/11, it became apparent that we were going to war. i was glad that the president did not limit our potential actions to Afghanistan because we all know that radical Islam is spread throughout many nations. i did have my doubts about going into Iraq. it had nothing to do with whether or not Iraq was a bad player. that was a given. it had to do with the decimation of our military readiness over the course of the post Desert Storm years.
my concerns were balance by the assertions made by all nations that Saddam had WMD, and the fact that he had used them. if his country was as strapped for cash as the humanitarian organizations had reported, what better source of ready income than to sell WMD to the highest bidder? of course we did not know at the time that Saddam was a multi-billionaire.
my brothers, husband, and both sons now serve. the idea of WMD used on the battlefield is the stuff of nightmares. used here? the stuff of (so far) B movies. given the available info and the 9/11 attack, going after Saddam was a logical move.
have we made mistakes? many. should we have gone into Iraq? if we could make decisions with hindsight, maybe we wouldn't have done it. what now? win.
bin laden did a couple of interviews in the 90's. he talked about the US weakness and inability to finish what we started. he talked about our cowardice in Somalia. if we withdraw from Iraq now, it is more fuel for his type of radicalism.
what is a "win"? that's a hard question, but one we should be working on answering, rather than thinking about quiting.
it could be argued that there are more conservatives serving in the military, and sending sons and daughters to serve, than there are liberals doing the same. we have more reason to wish to avoid war. we have more at stake. we also have good reason to wish to win. we do not want to carry this on until our grandchildren are old enough to serve.